Westland-Hill Pterodactyl

Named after the genus Pterodactylus, a well-known type of pterosaur commonly known as the pterodactyl, all but the first were produced by Westland Aircraft Ltd after Hill joined them.

All subsequent examples were funded under Air Ministry contract and built by Westland Aircraft, who took on Hill for this purpose.

[2] The next model to be built was a three-seat cabin monoplane to Ministry Specification 16/29, in which the all-moving tips were replaced by conventional ailerons.

Rolls-Royce Goshawk engine and differing noticeably from the previous versions in having a sesquiplane lower wing and tractor propeller.

The forward propeller position, together with the tailless wing configuration, gave the rear gun turret an outstanding field of fire.

After World War II, Hill helped develop the similar NRC tailless glider in Canada.

Hill's Pterodactyl designs were all intended to handle safely without any definite stall point, allowing reliable recovery without loss of altitude even by inexperienced pilots.

The wing was "washed out", having a slight twist which reduced the angle of incidence progressively towards the tips, providing a near-stationary overall centre of pressure and ensuring that the aircraft was stable in pitch.

I differed in having horizontal "electroscope rudders" on the trailing edge,[i] inboard of the movable wingtips, which acted to provide differential drag.